The Drivecast

The U.S. is laughably behind the rest of the world when it comes to headlight technology. It’s not because the technology didn’t exist, but rather because outdated U.S. laws have prevented automakers from bringing these modern technological marvels to U.S. roads. Until now.

New laws that were finally enacted years ago are finally allowing automakers to bring adaptive headlights to the U.S. with a handful of automakers now launching the modern tech in America.

The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder, Head of Exterior Lighting for Audi AG, Michael Kruppa, and vehicle lighting and regulation subject matter expert Daniel Stern break down the differences in these upcoming modern headlight technologies and why it took so long for the U.S. to catch up to the rest of the world.

Stories mentioned in today's episode:

Audi’s Matrix LED Headlights Are Finally Coming to America

Audi’s New Q9 Will Project Your Turn Signals Onto the Road

Here’s Why Modern Headlights Are So Unbelievably Annoying

It’s Not Just You: Six of 10 Drivers Say Headlight Glare Is a Problem

See Audi’s New Micro LED Digital Matrix Headlights in Action. Yes, They’re Still Illegal in America

Adaptive Headlights Will Finally Come to the US, Thanks to the Infrastructure Bill

00:00 Intro

04:58 Laws had to change to enable modern headlight tech

09:21 Addressing headlight glare

13:48 Adding communication to lighting

15:06 Rivian's adaptive lighting system vs. Audi's

21:56 Retrofitting adaptive lighting to cars on the road

25:22 One lighting regulation for the world

28:12 What took so long for America to get into this century?

28:40 One world headlight

30:42 Different implementations of the tech

33:26 Safety, light pollution, and blinding people

36:58 Audi vs. Rivian's system

38:35 Lighting tunnels: U.S. vs. The World

40:40 Is this a safety item?
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Millions of people have read Joel's report and seen the body cam footage after he was mistakenly tracked, and then ambushed, by police for what was believed to be grand theft auto after Flock license plate readers flagged the car he was driving for days.

The story, and topic of Flock and automatic license plate readers, is a lightning rod and at the heart of a national debate and various discussions in America. People's concerns about warrantless tracking, their 4th amendment rights, their privacy, and the constant stories surfacing of cops misusing the technology to stalk people can't be overlooked.

The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder and Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley sat down for a candid conversation about what happened, what's happening in America, and the future.

Stories mentioned in today's episode:

⁠How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me⁠

⁠Flock Says Its Cameras Worked ‘Correctly’ When Police Tracked and Ambushed Me for No Reason⁠

I Reported on Flock’s Cameras. Now I’m One of the System’s Mistakes

⁠Cops Are Already Using License Plate Readers to Stalk People⁠

⁠License Plate Cameras Are Tracking Your Life Without a Warrant⁠

⁠License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets

00:00 Intro

03:55 - What happened?

06:16 - What's changing and what did Flock learn from this?

14:02 - Addressing the hundreds of millions of misreads a month

18:00 - What's the future look like?

21:21 - The 4th amendment and privacy concerns

24:28 - Congress members threatening anti-Flock bills

27:00 - Publish pushback on Flock

31:52 - Police misuse and abuse of Flock

35:26 - Addressing Garrett calling people "domestic terrorists"
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Sometimes we report the news, and sometimes we ARE the news. That’s exactly what happened two weeks ago when Joel published his report about being mistakenly tracked by police via Flock license plate cameras and ambushed by the police in a strip mall parking lot. We can't make this stuff up.

This story hit so hard is because it landed in the middle of a heated debate around the country about Flock Safety’s growing network of AI-powered surveillance cameras, which police can use to track a lot more than just license plates. Every week, there are more headlines about one city entering a new partnership with Flock, another city ending theirs after residents pushed back, or people running around and cutting down every Flock camera they can find.

What happened? What have we learned since? And answers to people's questions that go beyond the stories we've published so far. The Drive's Editor-In-Chief Kyle Cheromcha and Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder break it all down.

Stories mentioned in today's episode:

⁠How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me⁠

⁠Flock Says Its Cameras Worked ‘Correctly’ When Police Tracked and Ambushed Me for No Reason⁠

⁠Cops Are Already Using License Plate Readers to Stalk People⁠

⁠License Plate Cameras Are Tracking Your Life Without a Warrant⁠

⁠License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets⁠

00:00 Intro

04:23 - What happened?

07:31 - Flock cameras tracked me

14:11 - Flock reached out

16:27 - What did we learn? How did this happen?

34:12 - Why four squad cars and four cops?

36:22 - Now what? Where do we go from here? What comes next?
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The business of concept cars is faltering. Every year, automakers spend many millions of dollars building full-size, one-off concept cars to market-test new ideas, flex design capabilities, experiment with new technologies, and just get people excited about what's next. They are a showcase of what a company can do when they're freed up from pesky things like crash regulations and mass production budgets. Most never make it to the showroom, at least not without a lot of compromises, but that's not the point. The point is to push, see what happens, and apply those findings to the cars of tomorrow.

The signal that a concept car is supposed to create for both sides, for companies and consumers, is getting weaker. When people are geared to greet concepts with suspicion because they represent anxieties about the future instead of hope, the market research aspect breaks down. When car companies can't get valid data from that response, their aim falters. And when companies build fewer ambitious concepts because it feels like a waste of money, the one window for both sides to have a conversation about what the cars of tomorrow should look like or do or represent gets smaller and smaller.

Are concept cars going to disappear? Why? What will happen? The Drive's Editor-In-Chief Kyle Cheromcha is joined by Jon Ikeda from Honda and Acura to break down the business of concept cars.

Stories mentioned in today's episode:

How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me

Do concept cars matter anymore? 5 top Designers explain

00:00 Intro

04:19 - Jon Ikeda and his background

5:40 - What's the ROI of concept cars?

11:39 - How expensive are concept cars to create?

15:53 - The Internet and digital consumption changed things

17:33 - Design studies vs. public concept cars

28:33 - Powertrains and proportions

37:38 - The Precision Concept

42:48 - Public reactions
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For a moment in time it looked like a hard shift to the electric future was taking place. When America's best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150, is available with an electric powertrain, there were signs. But various automakers took different paths towards the electric future, and by many accounts history might show the first round of electric trucks were a failure with large price tags, sales volume that quickly cooled off, and what resulted in massive losses for automakers.

Now the next-generation of EVs are taking shape, and of course, because this is America, trucks are at the forefront. But this time things are going to be different. From how these electric trucks are being designed and built to how much they will cost, what they can do, and even what they offer in terms of features.

But do electric trucks even make sense? The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder, Executive Editor Andrew P. Collins, and Senior Editor Caleb Jacobs break down the electric truck segment, what happened, where we are today, and what's coming next.

Stories mentioned in today's episode:

Ford F-150 Lightning EV Is Dead, Next Gen Will Have Gas Engine Backup

GM Delays Full-Size Electric Truck and SUV Redesigns: Report

Ram Gives Up On Its Electric Truck

2026 Rivian R1T Quad First Drive Review: When Too Much Is Just Enough

2024 Tesla Cybertruck Review: Impressive Engineering Hamstrung by Hubris

Spied: Ford’s $30,000 Electric Truck Caught Next to an Expedition

Slate’s $24,950 Electric Truck Gets More Range, More Tow Capacity—and 450 More Pounds

I Rode in Slate’s $24,950 Electric Truck. It Didn’t Feel Like a $24,950 Electric Truck

Pour One Out for Canoo, the EV Startup That Dared to Be Different

00:00 Intro

08:59 - Quick history lesson

13:58 - Rivian R1T and Tesla Cybertruck paved the way into the future

16:58 - Ford's $30,000 electric truck

17:39 - Slate

19:41 - Lightning replacement

22:31 - Telo

27:11 - Today's trucks are big

29:41 - Canoo

31:06 - EREVs are coming

36:51 - Do electric trucks make sense?
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